' Guru Nanak Dev Ji '...

Guru Nanak Dev Ji. (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ), was the founder and first Guru of Sikhism, was born in the year 1469, in the village Talwandi which is located in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. .............................................. Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s religious ideas draw on both Hindu and Islamic thought, but are far more than just a synthesis. Guru Nanak Dev Ji was an original spiritual thinker and expressed his thoughts in poetry that forms the basis of Sikh scripture. .............................................. Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s family were Hindus, but he soon showed an advanced interest in religion and studied Islam and Hinduism extensively. As a child he demonstrated great ability as a poet and philosopher. ............................................. One famous story about Guru Nanak tells of his rebellion at the age of eleven. At this age Hindu boys of his caste would start to wear the sacred thread to distinguish them. Nanak refused, saying that people should be distinguished by the things that they did, and their individual qualities, rather than by a thread. .............................................. Guru Nanak Dev Ji. continued to demonstrate a radical spiritual streak – arguing with local holy men and sages, both Hindu and Muslim, that external things like pilgrimages, penances, and poverty were of far less spiritual importance than internal changes to the individual’s soul. ............................................. Guru Nanak Dev Ji, believed men and women are equal and therefore women cannot be considered inferior. To woman we marry, of woman are we born, of woman conceived, by woman is the civilization continued. It is by woman that the entire social order is maintained. Then “Why call her bad? From her Kings are born” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------“There is but One God. His name is Truth; He is the Creator. He fears none; he is without hate. He never dies; He is beyond the cycle of births and death. He is self-illuminated. He is realized by the kindness of the True Guru. He was True in the beginning; He was True when the ages commenced and has ever been True. He is also True now.”